Philippine Navy personnel and China Coast Guard personnel clash near a grounded Philippine warship at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on Monday. | cnsphoto / via REUTERS
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, AFP-JIJI
Jul 21, 2026
China and the Philippines traded protests on Tuesday over an encounter a day earlier between the two countries in the South China Sea that left one Filipino navy crew injured.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had summoned the Philippine ambassador and filed a formal protest. It added that it was the Philippine Navy which “approached and rammed China Coast Guard vessels in a dangerous manner” in the Second Thomas Shoal, home to a grounded ship that serves as a Philippine-military outpost.
The Philippine Navy servicemen had “maliciously harassed and attacked Chinese law enforcement officers,” endangering their safety, it added.
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